Improvement in bed-recoil springs for printing-presses



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ANDREW CAMFBELL, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT lN BED-RECOIL SPRINGS FOR PRINTING-PRESSES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 56,700, dated July 31, 1866.

To all 'whom fit ma/ z/ concern:

Be it known that I, ANDREW CAMPBELL, of the city of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in the Mode of Applyin g Bed-Recoil Springs to PrintingPresses; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the operation of the s'ame, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making a part oi' this speciication, in which- Figure- 1 is a plan, and Fig. 2 a section through a, c of Fig. 1.

.Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both figures.

In all printing-presses having a reciprocating type-bed springs are used to ease the shock when the direction of the movement is changed at each end of the run of the hed; but this has been veryimperfectly effected by the arrangement of the sprin gs in common use.

The object of my invention is to accomplish the desired result in a more perfect manner; and to this end it consists, iirst, in so applying the bed-recoil springs that they are always in connection or contact with the bed through levers operating upon them, substantially as hereinafter described.

The invention further consists in so applying the bed-recoil springs thatv the recoil of the bed can be properly produced when it runs faster in one direction than the other.

To enable others skilled in the art to apply my invention to use, I will proceed to describe it with reference to the drawings, in which, to prevent confusion, I have omitted the main frame of the press and represented in Figure l three positions of the type-bed B, indicated,

' respectively, by the numerals 2, and

The type-bed B is arranged to run in the usual manner in guides provided in or on the main frame of the press, and may be driven in the usual or any suitable manner to and fro between the positions l and 3, in which it is represented in Fig. l. Under the Ways in which the bed runs there is arranged transversely a stationary horizontal frame, A, with-l in which are arranged or to which are attached the bed-recoil springs c c and the levers and connections through which the said springs act upon the type-bed B.

The springs C C, of4 spiral form, are coiled around two straight horizontal guide-rods, J J, which are secured by means of screws and nuts at one end, as shown at J* J* in Fig. l, to one end of the frame A, the other ends of the said rods being secured in a cross-head, M, within the other end of the said frame, and one end of the springs bears against the said cross-head M, and the other against a cross-head, H, near the other end of the said frame, the latter cross-head being free to slide upon the rods J J, and having connected with it a horizontal guide-rod, L, which passes through the cross-head M and works in a guide at the end of the frame B next the latter cross-head.

The cross-head H is connected at -i i and j j by two connecting-rods, g g, with two horizontal bell-crank levers, F F', which are arranged to work on fulcrum-pins h h, secured in the frame B.

The type-bed is connected by a pin, a, to one end of a horizontal lever, K', the other end of which is jointed by a fulcrum-pin, b, with one end of another horizontal lever,l K, the other end of which is connected with the frame A by means of a fulcrum-pin, c. The

levers K K' have portions d d of their edges curved to operate upon the faces of two upward projections, e c, formed upon the two bell-crank levers F F.

In the passage of the type-bed B from position 1 to position 3, or from 3 to l, the springs O C are at rest until the bed B is within a short distance of either end of the run, when the curved face-d of one or other of the levers K Kl rolls against the face e of the corresponding one of the bell-crank levers F F' which operates through the connections g g upon the cross-head Hand compress both the springs O C at once, as shown in the red lines, when the bed B reaches alternately the positions 1 and 3.

The screws and nuts J* J* serve the purpose of adjusting the springs to the proper degree of tension to produce the recoil. By this system of springs, levers, and connections the bed is kept in contact with the springs during the evolution of the press, yet the springs only act at the ends of the run of the bed B. This effect is obtained by the hub of the lever K serving as a stopfor the projection e of the lever F while the bed B is moving` to the position l, and the joint of the lever K and the lever K serving as a stop to the projecting lever F while the bed is moving to the position 3, thus making a iirin Contact of the parts before commencing to compress the springs C G, and thereby entirely avoiding the blow of coming into contact and establishing a connection by contact between the bed B and the springs C C during the evolution.

ln cases where the bed B travels with different velocities in opposite directions I make the arm-o of the bell-crank lever F longer, as shown in Fig. l, or shorter, as the case may require, than the arm p of the bell-crank lever F', thereby giving more or less motion to the springs C C, which give more or less reeoiling power, as required.

ANDREW CAMPBELL.

Witnesses:

HENRY T. BROWN, J. W. CooMBs. 

